Wednesday, August 8, 2012

A Word About Wilson...

That word is PONY. He is ten years old, a blotchy design of brown and white and smarter than most other beings on the planet. His nicknames are "Einstein", "Clever Clogs" and "The Pony Calculator". The trainer has described him as "frighteningly bright" and the person who cared for us in the absence of the regular humans called him "Brat Face", "Smarty Pants" and "you little ^%$#^^%$*#".

Wilson arrived in an enormous box on wheels at the end of March - by enormous I mean that it held nine equines. Two of those were called Mike and Tommy and are 19hh. I very much wish we had been able to visit with those equine edifices but they were on their way to somewhere called Calgary.

Molly immediately laid down the law about my being a sacred object around here and threatened to do terrible things to him for three days. Then she announced she quite fancied him. I find him personable and an excellent mutual neck scratcher. He had never lived indoors before but has taken to it so well that he now declares he can't exist without deep bedding, ice cubes in his evening water and his own fan.

The trainer has had some interesting interactions with him but Wilson seems to be gradually bringing him to heel - though the trainer thinks the reverse. The wheels in the pony brain never stop spinning. The woman has ridden him a bit but is still maundering on about her shoulder - the damage to which was caused inadvertently by Wilson...

But that is a story for another day and involves four different species.

12 comments:

Denise at Autumn Sky said...

How wonderful to have someone around who can carry on intelligent conversation. He sounds a bit Alpha in his personality and behavior, but someone has to keep the woman on her toes on those occasions when she won't listen to you.

billie said...

Oh, Sheaffer - Wilson is a PAINTED PONY??!!

The woman is definitely in for it - they are reputed to be as smart as can be. I'm so intrigued and can't wait to read more.

I must say that I can hardly take my eyes away from that huge equine Mike being loaded into that trailer. Are you sure he actually ended up fitting in it? What a massive boy he is!

I returned home from a writing retreat in our mountains on Sunday and found Cody covered in hives and what turned out to be fire ant bites. Sigh. He is better now but this has put me on full fire ant patrol. Just when the heat finally breaks there is another kind of "heat" to deal with. Rafer and Redford are as unperturbed as can be. Though they do offer some emotional support and will happily follow me around as I dig the mounds and then cover them in DE powder. If that doesn't get them I will get out the flaming torch device and use that. Redford has indicated he might want to try his hooves at flaming - you might understand why we are not quite sold on that idea. :)

ponymaid said...

Denise - Wilson is a man of action and enthusiasm. I would describe him as more of a schemer than an intellectual - he would have to stay still and focus to have a truly in-depth exchange. I think he might have thrived in the days of the Pony Express. One of his fondest memories is of going in a parade and his other is of camping out overnight. I am researching the term ADD to see if it applies - billie will know. Perhaps he is someone who simply likes to experience life to the fullest...

ponymaid said...

billie - I believe Wilson to indeed be one of the painted variety of pony. We felt quite sorry for Mike and his brother Tommy having to travel in that long box - I don't know what would fit their travelling needs - perhaps one of those metal shipping containers that travel on trains or perhaps a rail car itself. They were delightful lads.

Now, what is this about fire ants? They sound revolting and dangerous. I beg you to keep us posted if Redford involves himself with any flame-throwing devices. Wilson is also quite interested in learning more about the operation of these...

billie said...

If Wilson is ADD he is one of the milder-mannered painted ponies. I think the one who lives with us might have a slightly more sinister diagnosis. :)

Fire ants are truly revolting. They build mounds and if you dare touch the mound they roil out in a mass of fury and bite like crazy. The bites feel like fire being needled into your skin, and when they finally stop burning you are ready to enter phase two - when they itch like mad for at least a week w/o some kind of treatment.

Normally the equines here are quite used to seeing the mounds on occasion and they steer clear of them until I can get them taken care of. However, I will tell you I have seen Redford stomp them with his hoof and not get a single bite. I have discouraged that kind of behavior but he is very protective of his territory.

Redford with a flame-throwing device would be about like Jack with one, on the day that the "vitnery" came by to do his teeth. Redford has still not forgotten nor has he forgiven the gelding transgression that was performed on his young self back in April. I suspect retribution might happen if he had the flame thrower in his possession.

ponymaid said...

billie - that's it. I don't care for fire ants even though I have no personal experience with them. It sounds as though Redford does and is impervious to their attacks. How interesting...

Dougie Donk said...

Sheaffer, I sympathise with you if Wilson has ADD.

Dennis also has the hyperactivity part of this disorder & I have found the trick is to rephrase the question - if he thinks he is being asked something new each time, then it is possible to engage his attention for quite a while.

The quality of the response remains dubious, but it is better than nothing!

Fire ants sound awful. I'm glad we don't have them here.

ponymaid said...

Dougie - Wilson is interested in everything, all the time. I will try the rephrasing approach, though in Wilson's case it may prove exponential thus causing us all to lose the last of our sanity. I too am most grateful that the despicable (and obviously very angry)fire ants have so far not invaded our northerly paddocks.

Finn the Wonder Pony said...

Oh Sheaffer! You have your own Painted Pony! As you know, I am a Painted Pony! Congratulations! We are indeed extremely intelligent, if a little quick in our minds. I wouldn't call it ADD, just a matter of our minds moving more quickly than most mammals. He will probably settle a little after he finished teaching the trainer and gets down to the nitty gritty of retraining The Woman. We were sorry to hear of The Woman's injury, and understand it was not really Wilson's fault. My Woman asked if yours knows about Rope Halters. They are gentle, but can control us when we become Very Afraid. We all wish for a speedy recovery for The Woman.

Dougie Donk said...

Ooh, Finn's comment about rope halters has just reminded out woman to comment on natural horsemanship/Parelli type methods.

She does not "Buy into" the sales hype surrounding these methods, so was very cynical that they would offer anything that the skills she has developed over eons with horses could not offer.

However, when Dennis was having one of his extremely brattish spells, she took him along to a training event & came home not converted, but more.. open to persuasion.

She now thinks Menace took a big step forward because he was being asked the same thing, but in a different way, which engaged his active brain to get results.

If only she'd listened to what I'd been telling her about "rephrasing the question." She still has to do some learning herself on the inate wisdome of donkeys !

ponymaid said...

Finn - yes, we have our very own two-tone pony, who apparently comes equipped with at least two highly operational brains. So far he has picked up the longing rod and tried to longe the Woman, opened the horse-proof lock with greatest ease and learned to make his nose into a point, which he uses to demonatrate the exact spot where a fly is biting him or where he simply has an itch. We do indeed have one of those rope headgear affairs but he would probably turn it into a macrame plant holder and hand it back to Herself. The trainer rode him yesterday and Wilson feels it went quite well.

ponymaid said...

Dougie - I find humans to be very limited in the methods they use to request that we do something. Sending them out to expand their horizons sounds like a win-win situation to me. I can't imagine who would accept the Woman for training - I've barely made any headway after all these years. I can only fall back on that old saying "She means well" although sometimes I wonder...